


Sweet Serendipity

by orphan_account



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3459101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A water bottle is shared.</p><p>(Or, Rin accidentally says a thing and promptly freaks out.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> this was something i wrote and posted on tumblr months ago, but i looked at it again the other day and decided to clean it up a bit and post it here. so here it is.

"Oi, Haru, let’s rest here.”

Rin slowed his jog to a stop at the top of a grassy hill, slightly - but only  _slightly_  - winded from their run. Behind him he heard Haru’s feet step off the pavement and onto the grass where Rin was standing. It was stifling outside - the sun continued to beat down on them, relentless in its heat despite the early hour. Frowning, Rin tugged at the collar of his shirt, wishing there was a breeze or _something_ to cool him down. He took a swig from his water bottle, relieving at least some of the dryness in his mouth, before unceremoniously stripping off his shirt and flopping onto his back, landing with a soft thump. Spreading out his arms, he let out a relieved sigh at the feeling of cool grass against his overheated skin. The relief wouldn't last long, he knew, not in this weather, but right now he would take what he could get. Turning his head slightly to the side, he opened his mouth, about to complain (seriously - it was a fucking oven outside) when his words died in his throat. His eyes widened, startled at the sight of Haru staring down at him with a strange expression on his face — well, there was really only a slight furrow between his brows, but in Haru terms, that was plenty strange enough. Particularly because it didn’t look like he was planning on  _saying_  anything.

Rin fidgeted, feeling awkward under the attention. “What?”

Haru jolted a bit, as if he hadn’t been quite aware of what he’d been doing. He glanced off to the side for a second before turning his eyes back to Rin.

"…Nothing."

Rin tilted his head, puzzled, but deciding that it was much too hot to be worth the effort, chose not to pester him about it. Instead he patted the ground next to him.

"You sitting down or what?" Rin grinned. "Don’t worry, we’ll be at the pool before you know it."

Haru didn't respond, but after a moment's pause he moved to crouch down on the patch of grass beside him. Rin watched as Haru wrapped his arms around his knees and stared ahead at the sight of the ocean in front of them, his blue eyes glimmering. The corner of Rin's lips quirked up into a faint smile. They stayed like that for a while, silent, content. A drop of sweat slowly slid down Rin’s forehead before he wiped it off with the back of his hand, grimacing.  _God_ , it was really fucking hot. Taking another chug of water, Rin glanced over at the bottle sitting in Haru’s hands – it didn’t look like Haru was going to drink from it anytime soon, fixated on the scenery in front of them as he was.

"Haru?"

"Hm?"

Rin gestured at the water bottle in Haru’s hand. “Aren’t you gonna drink?”

Haru took a brief look at his water bottle before looking back up at Rin. “There’s no more.”

"Huh?” Rin raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t you just refill it ten minutes ago?"

Haru shrugged. “There’s no more,” he repeated. 

"…Okay," Rin said, slowly. "Have some of mine, then. I still have more than half left." He picked up his water bottle from where he’d placed it on the grass and offered it to Haru. God forbid Haru died of water deprivation before they got to Iwatobi for joint practice. Gou would murder him. And possibly Makoto, too, if it were at all possible to kill someone in a gentle, kind manner. 

Haru hesitated for a second before reaching out and taking the bottle from Rin, putting his own down on the grass between them. He nodded his head slightly. “Thanks.”

Rin simply smiled at him, before lying back down and closing his eyes. It was still a bit early in the morning so there weren’t very many people walking around outside yet. All he could hear was the distant rush of waves crashing onto the shore, the caws of seagulls flying overhead, and the sound of Haru breathing next to him. Rin breathed out another sigh.

"What are you smiling about?"

Rin opened his eyes to the sight of Haru staring down at him. His face probably would have looked impassive to the average bystander, but Rin could read him well enough by now to detect the hint of curiosity in his eyes.

"No reason." Rin's smile stretched even wider across his face. "Just happy, I guess. It feels nice here."  _With you_ , he didn’t say out loud.

From the small smile on Haru’s face, though, Rin could tell he heard the unspoken words anyway. It had only been a few months since their reconciliation, but already their bond was showing signs of being stronger than ever. It was nice, being Haru’s friend again. Rin faced away from Haru for a second and grinned to himself. Really, really nice.

Turning his head back towards Haru, Rin watched as Haru drank more water out of his water bottle.  _He’s putting his lips where I put my lips_ , he thought absently, his fingers clenching at the grass.  _Indirect kiss…_

Rin glanced up from where he’d been staring at Haru’s lips to see Haru staring back at him, his eyes wider than they’d been before. Haru’s mouth opened as if about to say something, and then closed again. He cleared his throat before trying again. “…Rin,” he said, his voice quiet, “what did you just say?”

Rin froze. “I— what?”

Haru shifted his stare to Rin’s water bottle, this time avoiding his eyes. “What you said just now…” He shook the bottle slightly before mumbling, “Indirect… kiss?”

Colour drained out of his face so rapidly Rin felt dizzy with it. Oh, god. Oh,  _fuck_. He snapped his mouth shut, his teeth clacking together, having just realized he'd spoken his thoughts out loud. He sat up and covered his face with his hands, feeling a quickly growing heat against the skin of his palms. _Fuck_. Tears immediately sprung up at the corners of his eyes, much to his dismay. Rin swallowed, tried to keep his breathing under control, but it was becoming increasingly evident that that was not happening - the air around them, which had been stifling before, was now downright suffocating. Rin bit down on his lips, his mind racing with all the possible consequences. Was this going to ruin his friendship with Haru? They had just relearned how to act around one another, how to be comfortable with only each other for company - did he mess things up between them  _again_?

Rin tried to speak, to give a plausible excuse, to laugh everything off, to do  _something_ , but his voice couldn’t move past the lump in his throat. He tried anyway. “That was— I was just—” he said, his voice cracking near the end. Rin squeezed his eyes shut, trying to fight back the tears. This was mortifying enough as it was.

"Rin."

Rin said nothing. He sat still, silently pleading for the ground to open up and swallow him whole before Haru could say anything he didn’t want to hear.

“ _Rin._ ”

Rin felt cool hands pulling his own away from his face. He tried to resist, but after a few more insistent tugs, gave up. He would just have to face the consequences, he thought morosely.

"Rin, look at me."

Silence.

"Please, Rin."

Rin slid his eyes away from the blade of grass he’d been glaring at, if only because he rarely ever heard Haru say  _please_. What he saw had him freeze for the second time that day. There was… there was a  _blush_  on Haru’s face. It was faint, barely a pale pink across the skin of his cheeks, but it was unmistakably  _there_.

Rin’s mouth fell open in surprise. “Haru?”

Haru turned his head to the side but glanced sideways at him, the slight blush still present on his face. “…Idiot. Let me speak before jumping to conclusions on your own.”

Rin couldn’t think of anything to say in response, so he just nodded dumbly, his lips still parted in surprise. Hope grew within him like a twining vine, wrapped snugly around his heart, and his heart started to beat faster in his chest, the loud thump of it resounding in his ears. He watched as Haru’s eyes moved down to look at Rin’s mouth, watched as the pink flash of Haru’s tongue darted out to lick at his own lips. Once again Rin felt his face heat up, but unlike last time it was accompanied by a warm, pleasant feeling radiating out from the center of his chest.

"Do you—" Rin began.

"I think I—" Haru said at the same time.

They both paused. Then they burst out in laughter – Rin's, loud and delighted, and Haru's, softer and quietly happy. They gazed at each other with smiles on their faces.

Haru shook his head fondly, and with a smile still lingering on his lips, he inched forward and brought his face closer to Rin, one hand resting on Rin's arm and the other settling on his shoulder.

"You know," Rin breathed out. "We’re probably gonna be late for practice. Everybody should be there by now."

"It’s okay," Haru mumbled, his lips now brushing against Rin’s. "They can wait."

Gou was probably going to yell at them as soon as they showed up to practice, and the heat of the sun on his bare back was almost definitely going to lead to a nasty sunburn, but, Rin thought as he wrapped his arms around Haru’s waist, it looked like today was still going to be pretty nice.

"I like you, Rin…"

Really,  _really_  nice.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are always appreciated :)


End file.
